Search Documents

Jan 1, 1881

By G. A. Koenig, Moritz Stockder

Locality and Geological Occurrence. The Alpine region of Southwest Colorado, comprising the San Juan and Uncompaghre Mountains, is composed of a deeply eroded sheet of acid eruptive rocks, overlying in part gneissic sehists, and in part limestones and sandstones, including portions of the Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous systems. The section is clearly and beautifully exposed along the Uncompaghre River from its headwaters to its exit from the mountains. The river's course from the town of Ouray towards the Los Pinos agency is due north, and four miles from Ouray, in this direction, the Uncompaghre receives from the east the Red Cafion Creek. Following up the narrow caftan we find the section through white.. sandstone in strata dipping to the north and west, and belonging either to the lower or middle Devonian system. Presently the steep cafion-liko character of the ravine gives place to more gentle slopes, and we have entered crystalline rock-porphyry. The contact is well marked, for the sandstone, to a depth of from six to ten feet, resembles quartzite, i. e., is semifused. Ascending still higher, a small

Jan 1, 1881

By Oswald J. Heinrich

AT the Baltimore meeting of the Institute in February, 1879, Mr. Eckley B. Coxe, then president of the Institute, called attention in his address to the subject of Secondary Technical Education, and

Jan 1, 1881

By S. A. Ford

I WOULD like to call the attention of our Bessemer steel manufacturers to a few facts in regard to the action of the manganese in. the Spiegel with the oxide of iron in the blown iron. The oxygen is united with the iron as a magnetic oxide, as Gautier asserts, and this oxide is reduced to a protoxide by one-atom of the manganese uniting with one atom of the oxygen of the magnetic oxide of iron. This oxide of manganese and the protoxide of iron thus formed unite with the silica which has been formed by the oxidation of the silicon in the pig iron. Mr. Snelus and others

Jan 1, 1881

By Charles M. Rolker

THIS remarkable and well-known district lies about 320 miles south of Salt Lake City, in Washington County, near the Arizona border of the territory. It is now reached by the Utah Southern Railroad and its extension, and the last 100 miles are run by stages. These vehicles are called "jerkies" in the West, which name conveys a good idea of the comfort they afford, and the relief experienced when you alight. Arriving at Silver Reef, the main camp of the district, one sees at once that he stands where once a surging sea had its domain, marked now by heavy sandstone deposits of a red and white color. The town itself, a neat, clean, and orderly mining town, is encircled on the north by traohyte and granite mountains, skirting to the west. They are cut through in places by deep gorges, left us as the only trace of the force of former currents, which drained the adjoining territory to the north; and which when swelled and infuriated by tempests and cloud-bursts, took in their grasp the huge blocks of

Jan 1, 1881

By Ellis Clark

THE mining town of Pribram is situated in Central Bohemia, on the western slope of the Heiliger Berg, 30 miles southwest from Prague. Birkenberg, the village in which most of the shafts and ore-dressing establishments are situated, is built on a mountain of the same name. It is about a mile from Pribram, is 1700 feet above the sea, and is surrounded by graywacke rocks of Silurian origin, which are intersected by greenstone dikes, and in the southerly, southeasterly, and southwesterly direction are bounded by granite. The graywacke formations consist on one side of graywacke sandstone and quartzite, and on the other of graywacke slates. These last are separated from the first in the immediate vicinity of the mines by a graywacke seam converted into clay. For many years this so-cal led clay seam (lettenkkluft) was considered as a boundary of the ore deposits in both zones of graywacke. The graywacke formation is divided according to its hardness, structure, texture, and color, into fine, coarse, compact, slaty, whitish-gray, reddish-gray, and black graywacke. The, miner divides the formation into four divisions. The first or lowest division, which is in contact with the granite, consists of a fine-grained dirty gray slate; the -second is a very fine to a very coarse schist, white to reddish-gray in color, and rich in quartz, but containing little mica; the third consists of a slate with a contused cleavage, which has a dirty gray, dark gray, and very often black color and is often graphitic in its composition ; the fourth consists of a fine to coarse-grained graywacke schist, of a grayish-white or reddish-gray color, and rich in quartz. The cleavage in all four divisions strikes from northeast to southwest, and the dip is sometimes northwesterly, sometimes southerly, and often vertical. All four zones are cut through by a great number of diorite and greenstone dikes and chimneys. The thickness of these dikes, which are of

Jan 1, 1881

By Henry S. Munroe

THE plan of organizing a summer class of students of the School of Mines, for the practical study of mining and miner's work, received at the outset the following cordial indorsement : I have thought over the plan proposed by you of taking the students to the mines during the summer, and of having them actually take part, under the direction of skilled workmen, in all the various kinds of mining work; and of using them as a carps of engineers to make Inside and outside surveys, particularly with a view to the detailed study of the geology of the mine. I have no hesitation in saying, that if the students have been previously instructed in the theoretical part of their studies, by lectures and practice during the winter, the plan would be an admirable one. Of course experience will suggest modifications of detail. From the work you have done at our mines this spring, I feel sure that you would be perfectly competent to carry out your plan, and I shall gladly aid you in any way I can. "Yours, sincerely, T. B. Coxe." The plan of the proposed summer school thus indorsed by Mr. Coxe was adopted by the trustees of Columbia College, and an appropriation of one thousand dollars, or so much thereof as might be necessary, was voted for the experiment. A volunteer class of thirteen students was formed, and the first summer school was held at Drifton, in July and August of that. year (1877). The following extract, from an editorial notice in the Engineering and Mining Journal, of August 11, 1877, will give an idea of the 'organization of the school and the work required of the students. "The students, on reporting to Professor Munroe, were divided into squads of two or three men each, and on Monday, July 2d, were assigned to the Care of skilled miners, selected for the purpose by the mine boss, for instruction in gangway work. Half of the students worked in the morning and the other half in the afternoon, one squad at a time with each miner. The times of going and coming to and from work were so arranged that each student spent four to four and a half hours in the mine each day. While in the mine they assisted the miner to load his car, thereby learning readily to distinguish 'slate ' and

Jan 1, 1881

By Charles O. Thompson

IN 1867 the city of Worcester walled in the Mill Brook for its main sewer. This stream, one of the important affluents of the Blackstone River, flows through the city in a southwesterly course from Salisbury Pond, and along its valley a considerable part of the heavy manufactories of the city are placed. At two points, a mile apart, a sufficient fall occurs to be turned to account for motive power, and at many points it was the right and practice of the riparian proprietors, prior to 1867, to use the water for steam and other manufacturing purposes. But the

Jan 1, 1881

By C. E. Stafford

and tougher, and will carry double the tonnage of any of Dr. Dud ley's soft mils. C. E. Stafford, Steelton, Pa.: I must confess my high ap preciation of Dr. Dadlq's conscientious and painstaking work, and of his scientific methds in obtaining the data; but with his method of handling these results and with his conclusions drawn therefrom 1 canuot agree. The reasons for this difference of opinion I will endeavor to explain. It is apparent on inspecting his Plates 6 and 7 that the majority of the slower-wearing rails are from the north track, and generally have a longer time of service, a greater average tonnage per rail, and a smaller avernge tonnage per year per rail than the faster wearing, the majority of which are from the south track, and gener ally have a shorter time of service, a smaller average tonnage per rail, and a greater average tonnage per year per rail. Have these facts any significance Have these different of conditions to which they are subjected any baring on the relative wearing capacity of these rails I venture to say they have. I think, after a study of Table I (page 676), (an arrangement of linee 17 and 18 of Plate a), in connection with Plates 6 and 7, we will find that the slower wear of the 32 best rails is only partly due to qualities inherent in the rails themselves, but is principally due to external conditions favorable to slower wear. In regard to the north and south track, we know that over the rsoiith track come the loaded cam from the West, and that over the north track these cars return, most of them, empty. It is evident that this means for the north track a less average tonirage per rail per year; or, in other words, a lower wheel tonnage. When the load per wheel is less, the resistance and consequently the wear must, necessarily, be less, other things being equal. Time of service, alee, has an important bearing on the question in hand. It has been only within the last five or six years, as Dr. Dudley has pointed out, that the roadbed of the Pennsylvania Rail road has reached its present admirable condition. Before this time the njadbrd was more elastic, more yielding (and probably not uni tbrmly so) than at present. These circumstalices might cause a sofier rail to be more durable than a harder one, owing to the fact that it ulonId yield rnore or less to the bending force of the passing load and would thus get a bearing on each cross-tie. The harder rail, on the other hatid, being stiffer and more. unyielding, would not

Jan 1, 1881

By Persifor Frazer

THE following notes on the Whopper and adjoining mines in the Gunnison district of Colorado were made in the spring of this year. The time chosen for the author to visit the region was, unfortunately, the most unfavorable of an exceptionably unfavorable year. About the middle of May all the hill slopes, which at this period of the year are generally covered with pasture, were thickly covered with snow. The unusually large precipitation of this year caused local mountain torrents at every few hundred feet, which wore away the soft foothills into gulches, gouged great chasms out of the roads, and transformed miles of usually dry soil into dangerous quagmires. Travel was totally interrupted for weeks, except on horseback or afoot, and even then with great difficulty and some danger. The Whopper mine is situated on the Whopper Mountain, about two miles from the headwaters of Rock Creek, and on the right bank of that stream. The Whopper Creek flows into Rock Creek from the east, and, by a precipitous descent, offers excellent facilities for its utilization as a source of power. This stream, which pours past the picturesque Whopper Cabin .about thirty tons of water a minute, has a fall of 100 feet in 400 yards, and is said to be a stream of some size, even at the seasons of the year when-drought prevails. The Whopper claim extends down the bill a distance of about 250 feet to its intersection with the Whopper Creek (on the other side of which is a small tunnel on its extension called the "Teller ") and over the steep hill northwest to the limits of the claim about 1250 feet. The part of the mountain in which this mine is situated is remarkable for its splendid forest, the spruce, fir, and quaking asp covering the mountain-sides with a green growth of valuable timber. The distance from Gothic City to this mine is about eight miles along the valleys of East River and Rock Creek, and on the divide which separates them. The elevation of Gothic City is given from the engineer's notes as 9500 feet above sea-level, and the mean of several observations with a Beck watch-barometer made the elevation of Whopper Cabin (which is about fifteen feet above the floor of the Whopper upper tunnel) about 1250 feet above Skiles's Cabin in Gothic City. The record of this instrument must, how-

Jan 1, 1881

By H. S. Munroe

AN elaborate discussion under this heading formed a chapter in one of the reports made by Professor Raymond as Commissioner of Mining Statistics.* In a subsequent report- was printed a paper, by Mr. William Main, Jr., of Columbia, South Carolina, containing a theoretical investigation into the effect of the velocity of impact on the effective ditty of stamps. A visit to the Lake Superior copper region last summer suggested an inquiry into the relative efficiency and economy of the enormous steam stamps of the copper-mills, as compared with the results obtained with the cant and tappet stamps commonly used in the West. The atmospheric stamp used at the Phoenix Mill promised to add interest to the inquiry, as giving an example of unusually high speed, this stamp making 160 drops per minute. In introducing his subject Dr. Raymond makes the following remarks, which are quite apropos of the present investigation : "In considering the economical application of stamping machinery, we meet, at- the beginning, with serious difficulties in obtaining accurate data for comparison. The weight and fall of stamps vary as the shoes and dies wear out; and this may lead to a change of speed also. Moreover, defects in engines, boilers, or machinery for the transmission of power, may occasion serious losses, which cannot fairly be charged to the arrangements of the stamps proper. Again, the capacity of stamp-mills is directly dependent, in some degree, upon the nature and extent of discharge, fineness of screens, and other peculiarities of the battery. Finally the hardness and tenacity of the rock crushed varies so much that comparisons between different localities cannot be implicitly trusted. The safest experiments are those made in the same mill, by changing first one and then another condition of working; but this is seldom possible for such * Mineral Resources West of the Rocky Mountains, 1871, p. 380. †- Mineral Resources West of the Rocky Mountains,, 1873, p. 345.

Jan 1, 1881

ASHBEL WELCH, LAMBERTVILLE, N. J.: Dr. Dudley has given the wear of steel rails under four different conditions. He arrives at the conclusion that the softer rails, or those that from their composition ought to be softer, wear better than the harder. But there is another condition which has an important bearing on the subject, and, should not be overlooked,-the weight on a wheel. With the lighter weights of the past, the softer rails may have worn best; with the heavier weights of the future, the harder may wear best. Weights will probably be increased up to the capacity of steel to bear; then doubtless the harder steel will wear best. A leaden rail with ten pounds on a wheel might carry millions of tons, but with one hundred pounds on a wheel, it would be destroyed by a few thousand tons. So in the days of iron rails, my experience was that the softer rails under light machinery stood better than some of the harder; but under heavy machinery the softer were much the most rapidly destroyed. His doubtless the same with steel. The pounding motion of the wheels loosens or spreads the particles of a thin film of steel; the pull lengthwise on the rail de- * Metallurgical Review, vol. i, page 1. † The remarks as here given, as in the previous discussion on steel rails, have all been written out or revised by the participants in the discussion, and represent, therefore, their mature views. It has been thought that this plan, when it can be carried out without doing any of the speakers injustice in debate, is much to be preferred to a strictly verbatim report. The remarks of Mr. Chanute were sent to the secretary after the. meeting, and although they did not form a part of the actual discussion, there can be no doubt of the desirability of including them in this report. The papers under discussion were “Rail Specifications and Rail Inspection in Europe,” by C. P. Sandberg ; " The Wearing Capacity of Steel Rails in Relation to the Chemical Composition and Physical Properties," by C. B. Dudley, and a Rail Patterns," by A. L. Holley. T. M. D., Secretary.

Jan 1, 1881

By T. Egleston

The origin of gold both in placer deposits ancl in veins, and especially the origin of nuggets, has been the subject of repctated discussions and investigations, which have been recently brought to my attention by several extremely interesting specinlens sent to me for examination, and mare especially by the one exhibited at the meeting of the Institute in February, 1880.* In the year 1874 I made some exan~inations of the hydraulic mines of California, and was very nluoh struck with the distribution of the gold throughout these deep placers, which were almost invariably poor on'the surface, while gradually growing richer towards the bedrock. The constant presence of fossil wood, and the large quantity of organic matter contained even low down in these beds, was also remarkable. Not being satisfied with the various theories advanced to account for the formation of these deposits, I began an investigation early in the pear 1879 on the conditions of solubility of gold and the causes of the loss in working gold ore in a large way. The researclles which I have undertaken show that gold must be considered a soluble rather than an insoluble metal, and that the conditions of solution are such as will be found anywhere where gold is likely to occur, and the solution may take place even under the ordinary circumstuncee of surfiace drainage, and may be going on freely even where the presence of gold has never been suspected, and that there are causee enough in nature to produce the solution of the gold in sufficient quantities to account for all the phenomena of both the vein and placer formations. The general theory with regard' to the formation of these placer deposits and nuggets has been that they were the result of the deatruction of pre-existing. vein-matter, which does not accord with the fitcts as sholvn in the deep placer deposits. The gold in such case would be distributed in layers of unequal richness throughout

Jan 1, 1881

By John Birkinbine

For two pears past the Warwick Furnace, at Pottstown, Pa., has attracted attention by the remarkable work done in it, and a statement giving details of its operation and the unexpectedly short biast of 1880 will be acceptable to every member who studies blastfurnace practice. There are so many interesting features in connection with this blast, and so touch to be learned from investigating it, that the results of ' thorough examination are offered to the Institute sans theories. In collecting the information, the courtesy of the various officers of the Warwick Iron Company was of material advantage, every facility for investigation being extended and an inspection of records being kindly permitted. In the following description these authoritative data are given in full where practicable, without making the paper too prolix, and the

Jan 1, 1881

By William Metcalf

One of the first questions that naturally occurs to one who handles steel is, " Why does steel harden?" To answer this question the chemist and physicist have devoted much thought and experiment, and while they have enriched our store of knowledge of the nature and composition of steel, it cannot be said that they have yet solved the problem involved in its hardening. In this communication I desire to direct attention to a line of investigation yet new, in the hope that it may receive the attention. of those who have the time and ability to pursue it. I refer to magnetism. There are so many parallels between the action of magnetism on iron and steel and their behavior under different processes of manipulation that it would seem. as if there must be some connection between tile forces at work in the different cases, if, indeed, there be not an identify of force in all of these cases. Magnetism, as me know it, may be merely the visible manifestation of forces, which may serve as a guide to lead us to an exact knowledge of the structure, tile strains, and the resistances with which me have to deal in iron and steel. If a magnet be brought close to a pile of iron filings, the little pieces of iron will fly to the maguet and attach themselves to it, with their longer axes lying in the direction of the force. If molten cast iron be poured into an iron mould,—a chill,—the iron upon crystallizing will form needlelike crystals, with their long axes normal to the surfaces of the mould. • If the iron is at the proper temperatare and the quantity small, compared to the mass of the mould, the whole of it, will be chilled, or set, in 'the hard needlelike crystals

Jan 1, 1881

By H. Martyn Chance

I HAVE been induced to present this paper to the Institute because I have been unable to find any publication containing a discussion of this subject. In some of our technical schools and colleges the student is required to construct or copy (generally the latter) a number of profile sections as part of his routine work ; but little attention is given to the methods of projecting observed dips and exposures upon the section line, and still less to the method of con¬structing the under (or above) ground curves. As a result of this lack of instruction every engineer or geologist is compelled to invent for himself a system, or copy the style of others. Geological profile sections have frequently been used to determine underground structure from data obtained at the surface, but the experience of engineers in the anthracite coal-fields has shown that they are to be relied upon only in exceptional instances. The possibility of indicating underground curvatures from dip-angles observed at the surface has been found to be limited to a mere approximation of the larger flexures, As a means of predicting the depth and shape of minor rolls, they have been found most unsatisfactory. In the anthracite coal-fields the hypothecatod

Jan 1, 1881

By John W. Cloud

IN 1877 the Pennsylvania Railroad Company removed an old bridge from its line at Duncannon, Pa., built intermediate piers and erected shorter spans of the Pratt truss type, which had previously been in use on another portion of the road. The design of this truss would not admit of diagonals larger than 1 5/8 inches diameter, and in order to stiffen the bridge somewhat steel rods were introduced for the main diagonals in the first and second panels, 1 5/8 inches and 1 3/8 inches diameter respectively. These rods were threaded without upsetting, and by the ordinary formulae the strains were of the same intensity upon both, viz., 16,000 pounds per square inch with the maximum loading. The other main diagonals in the truss are 1 5/8 inches diameter, and of iron. It was specified for the steel rods : Elastic limit, - 45,000 lbs. Tensile strength, - 80,000 lbs. Elongation, - 20 per cent. The steel was procured without difficulty, and it allowed a factor of safety of 2 3/4 at elastic limit, while a similar factor of 2 1/2 had for a long time been successfully used for iron. In the course of three years, from time to time, six of these steel rods broke, three of them being 1 3/8 inches in diameter, and three 1 5/8 inches in. diameter. The broken rods were tested, and three of them. analyzed at Altoona to ascertain the cause of failure, and what modi¬fications should be made in the steel for such service. Examination showed that all the rods were broken in detail close under the nut. The threads were well cut and properly rounded at the root. In testing the rods micrometer screws,. reading to .0001" with electric bell to signal the contact, were attached to the test pieces, and by this means the modulus of elasticity and elastic limit accurately obtained.

Jan 1, 1881

By J. P. Witherow

MR. BIRKINBINE'S description of the bad working and sudden chilling of the Warwick Furnace last summer, seems to me quite phenomenal in blast-furnace practice. During my connection with the management of blast furnaces for many years, in the anthracite, coke, and raw-bituminous coal districts, such a case has never come under my notice. It seems to me that the scaffold in the zone of fusion could not have established itself (so that the whole power of the engines, with a blast pressure ranging from 12 to 18 pounds per square inch, could not penetrate), unless the furnace was previously badly scaffolded and bridged in some of its upper sections, from 15 to 30 feet above the hearth level, either in the zone of chemical action or the beginning of the zone of fusion. Such a "barrier to the upward gaseous currents would cause a suspension of combustion which may have superinducedd the scaffold that is assumed to have existed in the zone of fusion. It is Difficult to conceive' that an agglomerated mass almost across the section of the lower bosh should have formed all at once, if the furnace was free and porous for the reaction of the gaseous currents above. Therefore, I think, the Warwick furnace was by no means in as free, open, and fine internal condition at the time the trouble commenced as the description of its regular working would lead us to suppose. I do not question the accuracy of the statements relative to the output of iron, etc. I merely claim that the phenomena., as described, could not have been almost instantaneously developed, unless there had been an incipient seaffold and lodgment above the zone of fusion. I would state my hypothesis to be that the stock lodged or collected in some of its upper sections during the process of blowing-in, on which, as a basis, more or less accumulations may .have lodged, and thus, indirectly, caused the formation of the suc- * This paper was not presented to the Institute in its present form, but is based on remarks, in discussion, by the author on Mr. Birkinbine's paper on, a Short Blast at the Warwick Furnace, and Mr. Witherbee's paper on Two Scaffolds at the Cedar Point Furnace.

Jan 1, 1881

By Charles O. Thompson

WHEN a wire rod of iron or of steel is immersed in a hot. solution of common salt, allowed to remain long enough to bring the metal to the temperature of the brine, and withdrawn, the surface of the rod is irregularly covered with a deposit of crystals of salt. These crystals adhere to the cod with great firmness, in consequence, doubtless, of a thin film of ferric hydrate, which is formed between them and the rod as the water dries tiff. The rod can now be re¬duced, by successive passes through a dic or draw-plate, without any

Jan 1, 1881

By Charles A. Ashburner

VERY little is known of the economical value of the cod-bells of the State of Texas. The first authentic statement in regard to their occurrence is that contained in the reports of the United States Exploratians for the Pacific Railroad, near the 32d parallel of latitude, published in 1863-55. Professor William P. Biake reports, "that a number of seams of bituininorls coal, varying in thickness from two to four feet, have been opened along the Brazos River, in Young County, about one hundred and fifty miles west of Fort Worth." Dr: Shurunrd also states, " that the claracteristic fossil fornis of the Carbeiferaas Era have been found with this coal, and considers the age of the formation established. Foesils obtained from the carboniteroas limestone remove all doubt of the age of these deposits."† In the spring of 1879, I was called upon by some Eastern capitalisets to make an examination of the Brazos coal-field, in order to obtain the thickness, extent., and value of the coal which could be mined and be'made merchantable fir stearn, heating, and metallurgical purposes. The demand for coal in this section of the country is great, and a fuel which in our Eastern markets might be considered of inferior quality, would here find a ready sale. It must be remernbered that the market value of a coal does not depen'd upon its absoltite purity, but upon its actual value in heat units which it is capable of prodwing. A poor coal which can be cheaply milled near the consuper, is infinitely more remunerative to a mining company than a superior coal whose cost to the consumer is greatly increased by high mining charges and railroad freights. The value of the Texan coals does not depend upon their purity but upon their low first cost and nearness to a market. A glance at a geological map of the United States, will show that the Brazos coal-field is the extreme southwestern extension of what may be called the Missourian, Fourth or Western, bituminous coal

Jan 1, 1881